Freelance Contributor
Over 150 households were inundated by flooding in the Cunupia area yesterday.
Floodwaters in the wake of torrential downpours on Wednesday, invaded numerous areas in Mon Plaisir, causing damages to residents’ household items, school supplies and even put one fashion designer out of business.
Parasram Jagroop, a fashion designer from Mon Plaisir Road, said he lost everything, including his sewing shop.
“I never get flooded here, first time I get flooded here,” Jagroop told Guardian Media.
Jagroop is a popular figure in the community and has designed gowns for many beauty queens. Resident Rasheed Mohammed said he had to use dirt to create an embankment to keep the water out of his house. Mohammed said the waters started rising around midday on Wednesday, and subsequently went down only to come back again yesterday.
Balmatie Gosyne, the local government representative for the Las Lomas/San Rafael on the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation (CTTRC), said a project to enhance the flow of the Cunupia River was supposed to be completed in the dry season. However, she said the project is still pending and is contributing to flooding in the area. Gosyne said she will attempt to get relief to the residents. However, she said the CTTRC has only one working cesspool pump truck.
Judy Ramroop, whose property borders the Southern Main Road and the southern side of the river, said the contractors were not answering any calls from her. Ramroop said the river is eroding her property, which is at risk of collapsing.
She said just over 12 years ago, a retaining wall was constructed in the river and it eventually collapsed two years ago. Ramroop said the contractor still has equipment on her property.
“This is the first time I am seeing this height of water and now it’s starting to undermine the foundation,” she said.
Kelly Village/Warrenville councillor Kamla Phagoo said more than 30 homes in her district were affected by flooding. She called for compensation for affected residents.
Contacted yesterday, Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan said the contractor doing repairs to the wall on the Cunupia River will now be asked to speed up the project. Sinanan said work on the project had halted because of the inclement weather that prevented the casting of concrete slabs to complete the river’s retaining wall. He said the works had gotten off to a slow start initially because the contractors had problems accessing the river banks because several residents had encroached on the river and were preventing the contractor from getting to the problem areas.